On My Birthday, He Was with His First Love

: My Husband Is with Someone Else on My Birthday

On my birthday, I cooked a spread of my husband's favorite dishes.

I placed the confirmation of my pregnancy in a beautiful box, wanting to give him a surprise.

But my husband left the country without so much as a word.

All to take care of his first love after her miscarriage.

Later, when I grew disillusioned and decided to divorce him, he knelt and begged me not to leave.

I walked away without looking back. "Belated affection is worthless."

...

"Mrs. Kaelen, President Kaelen had to fly abroad for an urgent business trip. Please don't worry."

After calling Ethan Kaelen countless times, I finally confirmed with his assistant that he was all right, and the weight on my chest lifted.

Just then, the clock on the wall struck twelve, marking the start of a new day.

My birthday passed just like that.

My worry vanished, replaced by an endless sense of disappointment.

'No matter how urgent the work was, he could have at least called or sent a text, right?'

This cold indifference… it was just like when we first got married.

My marriage to Ethan Kaelen was born from a scheme.

It was a scheme that drove his disillusioned first love out of the country and allowed me to marry him.

Ethan Kaelen resented me, hated me. After we were married, he refused to lay a finger on me. He couldn't even be bothered to put on an act for public appearances.

'But I was a victim of that scheme, too.'

Just because I was in love with him, he took it for granted that I was the one who'd set him up, and he refused to listen to a word of my explanation.

That was until a year ago, when Ethan Kaelen's first love got married abroad. That night, he came home reeking of alcohol.

He kept calling out his first love's name.

Through my tears, I kept correcting him, "I'm Mira…"

Not Nina.

The alcohol didn't make Ethan Kaelen forget what had happened.

He treated me much better after that.

And just like that, I got pregnant.

I had planned to tell him the good news yesterday, on my birthday.

At noon the next day, Ethan Kaelen finally called me back.

I answered eagerly, but the moment I heard his voice, a wave of resentment washed over me, and I couldn't help but complain, "Why are you only calling me back now?"

His voice was cold. "What is it?"

My heart sank.

I wanted to question him, but I bit my tongue. Our relationship had only just started to thaw, after so much difficulty.

I clutched the report from the hospital, the corners of my mouth slowly lifting into a smile. "I was going to tell you yesterday, Ethan. I…"

"Ethan…"

A woman's voice on the other end of the line suddenly cut me off.

My heart clenched. I immediately asked, "Who's calling your name?"

"You misheard. I'm busy. I'm hanging up."

The call ended.

I couldn't have misheard.

A woman had called my husband's name in a voice full of intimacy and longing.

A sudden cramp seized my lower abdomen.

I suddenly remembered I hadn't eaten since last night.

'That won't do. I have the baby to think about.'

I reheated the dishes I hadn't touched last night, forcing them into my mouth one bite at a time, even though everything tasted like cardboard.

My phone chimed with a notification. I glanced at the screen, and my heart instantly seized.

It was a breaking news alert. The headline read: [NEW LOVER'S MISCARRIAGE?! PRESIDENT OF THE KAELEN GROUP RUSHES HER TO MATERNITY WARD ABROAD!]

I bit my lip, but I clicked on it anyway.

The photo inside felt like a punch to the gut.

Ethan Kaelen, my husband, was carrying a woman into a maternity ward.

And the woman was none other than Ethan Kaelen's first love, Nina Shaw.

Though I'd never met her in person, I had seen Ethan Kaelen gazing at her photograph countless times, lost in a daze.

There was no mistaking her.